


I'll Race You

by TeddyKrueger



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Callum just wants to look cool, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Claudia loves magic too much, Ezran is a little bean, Gen, Soren and Callum were definitely besties, Soren needs better plans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 15:52:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17083259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeddyKrueger/pseuds/TeddyKrueger
Summary: “Hey, Callum,” Soren said. Callum looked up, eyes squinting from the sun just behind Soren’s head. “Remember that time you fell off the castle walls?”His face contorted in confusion. “No?”A spark went off in Soren’s eyes. “Okay, so it’s the best story.”





	I'll Race You

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of the [TDP Secret Exchange 2018](tdpsecretexchange.tumblr.com) on Tumblr. I got [@termiinallycapriiciiou2](https://termiinallycapriiciiou2.tumblr.com)! They wanted something with Soren and Callum playing as kids, so I think this counts? Anyways, happy holidays everyone!
> 
> **Tumblr**   
>  [@teddykrueger](https://teddykrueger.tumblr.com)
> 
> **Other Fics**   
>  [Echo My Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15644142/chapters/36332820)   
>  [Only Stardust](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14043720/chapters/32347134)

Callum wiped the sweat from his brow, wooden sword laying forgotten some feet away from him. Soren stood over him without extending a hand to assist. He knew better, especially when Claudia had a tendency to watch them when she got bored of whichever tome she was studying at the moment. 

As much as it weirded him out that the step-prince had an interest in his sister, he also didn’t do much to hinder Callum’s actions. Claudia’s more than capable of handling a kid.

Which reminds him…

“Hey, Callum,” Soren said. Callum looked up, eyes squinting from the sun just behind Soren’s head. “Remember that time you fell off the castle walls?”

His face contorted in confusion. “No?”

Oh man, how could he forget that gem? Heck, how could Soren have forgotten until now? It was one of the greatest falls of all time. Never again could any human being compare to the fantastic sight that was Callum in flight.

A spark went off in Soren’s eyes. “Okay, so it’s the best story.”

  


* * *

  


Soren wasn’t exactly the brightest kid. He also wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything when no one else he knew had glowing skin to begin with. There was Bait, but he was a glow toad. Soren was decidedly _not_ a glow toad.

It didn’t matter to him, though, since the armor he would wear one day would shine enough to make up for the standard. To get there, he would have to face feats that no other man could. He would have to brave the gnashing teeth of Moonshadow Elves and fend off against creatures of the forest. He’d have to be great.

Step one? Beat the step-prince in an obstacle race.

Some people might claim that a knight-in-training competing against a prince, whose only hobby was drawing, would be an unfair fight. The closest thing Callum had to muscles were the ones he drew on the heroes of his imagination. Even those were flimsy and easily torn.

Soren “could care less”, as he put it, when his sister Claudia nagged him about it for the billionth time.

“What if he gets hurt?” she questioned. “He’s the prince. You could like...get your head chopped off or something!”

Soren scoffed. “I’m a knight. They’ll have to defeat me in battle to take this pretty head off.”

“You’re twelve.”

“...You’ve got me there.”

Claudia’s attention was pulled to where Callum stretched. He made a sincere effort to reach his toes, but a tiny grunt of pain escaped every time he got within inches of them. She shot Soren a look as if to say, “See?”

“He’ll be fine,” Soren assured her. “Right, Callum?”

Callum looked up, grinned, and waved like he wasn’t about to experience the most harrowing trial of his life. Poor kid.

Soren jogged in his direction with Claudia in tow. He’d rather she not be a part of this, but who else was going to create the obstacle? 

“How is this going to work exactly?” Claudia asked.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Soren started. He pointed up to the castle walls where two guards were making their rounds. “We’re going to start down here, run as fast as we can up the stairs and on the wall, and that’s where you come in, Clauds. You’re gonna send some of your windy powers at us and we have to get all the way across without falling off. Then we run all the way back down the stairs on the opposite side. First person to make it back to you is the winner.”

“Wait, father said I’m not allowed to use the Primal Stone when he’s not here,” Claudia argued. “How am I supposed to do the windy thing when we don’t have that?”

Soren plucked a glass orb filled with a raging storm from his satchel. “Oh I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that.”

Claudia worried her bottom lip, but she barely hesitated to grab the object out of his hands. Soren knew he only needed to give her the slightest provocation and she’d be all over his little race. She nagged their father from day until night about when she could next use the Primal Stone. She’d even tried to sneak it away from him, but she wasn’t nearly as deft at it as Soren was.

Soren waved Callum over and he lightly jogged over to where the two stood. He was wasting the miniscule amount of energy he contained, but Soren wasn’t about to instruct an enemy on how to get the upper hand.

Claudia sighed and adjusted the Primal Stone to settle snug in the palm of her hand. “Are you guys ready?” she asked. They both nodded, determination flooding through Soren’s bones and undoubtedly through Callum’s. Too bad he was going to lose this fight.

“Ready...steady...go!”

Soren blasted off with enough force to have a considerable head start. At the entryway to the stairwell he gripped his hand on the wall and swung himself inside. Up up up. Hop hop hop. He could just see Callum below, the curvature of the walls blocking a full view as Soren ran. He could only take the stairs one at a time, arms and legs too gangly to support anything else. There was no 90 degree angle in the form of his arms. He was more like measuring tape that’s been freshly unraveled: some stiffness, but altogether flimsy and weak to outside motion.

The echo of slapping feet against stone gave way to the chirping of birds. Soren threw an arm over his eyes to combat the brightness of the afternoon. The only reason he tore it away at all was because he began teetering over. He peered over the edge to find Claudia blowing air with eyes squinted and cheeks full. She’d only just learned the spell, so her control was unprecedented, but he didn’t have time to be a proud older brother. That could wait until he got back down to her. 

She pushed him back a little too close to the edge closest to the outside world. He’d heard the other knights-in-training tell stories about kids falling clear off the side. Apparently you could hear them moaning at night, waiting for you to join them. 

_Just keep moving,_ he chanted in his head.

He braced himself against the wind as if pushing against a boulder with his shoulder. His legs threatened to tangle together, but he somehow kept in step.

His smile widened as he found himself just a few feet away from the stairwell. Just then a shriek. It decreased in volume as it went on, then nothing. He whipped around and found Claudia staring wildly at the ground in front of her with little Ezran watching in horror, hand fisted in her dress. Soren unbuttoned the sheath of the knife his father had presented him for his tenth birthday. He swore to protect the princes’ lives and like heck would he allow anyone to hurt his sister either.

He raced down the steps and emerged on the two potential victims’ level. He searched for the culprit and his eyes landed on a small lump. There was no sign of movement, which in most cases it would be a great thing.

Except it was Callum.

Soren was absolutely going to get his head chopped off.

  


* * *

  


“I hit my head from that high?!” Callum screeched. “I should have died!”

“But you didn’t,” Soren said nonchalantly, but with a grin.

“Claudia!” Callum called. “Why the heck didn’t I die that time you knocked me off the wall?”

She cocked her head, but recognition soon seeped into her gaze and her initial giggles transcended into cackling. She leaned backward on her bench a tad too much and nearly collapsed. “You didn’t even— _ha!_ —you didn’t even hit,” she breathed, “your head.”

Soren continued the story for her.

“You didn’t even hit your head. She lowered you down with Aspiro the second she realized you were falling.”

“So why did I pass out?”

“You just passed out the second you got halfway down,” Soren explained. “Not exactly sure why you don’t remember it because there wasn’t any damage.”

Callum lay down and gaped. Maybe it was time to take the step-prince to the kitchens. He looked like he needed some sugar to make up for all that shock.

Claudia wiped tears from her eyes and managed to dig up her language skills again. “You forgot to tell him why he fell off.”

“Oh yeah?” Callum asked.

“You were pushing against the winds super hard and were already pretty close to the edge. Honestly I wasn’t sure how you were doing it, but it was impressive.” Callum blushed at that. “Then Ezran snuck up and tugged on my dress and I lost my concentration. You kept pushing and _whoosh._ There you went.”

Callum narrowed his eyes and looked back-and-forth between the two siblings. “So what you’re saying is that this is Ezran’s fault?”

The two nodded.

“He was four.”

They nodded again.

“You two might—no—you’re definitely the worst.”

“You’re alive, aren’t you?” Soren said.

“Just barely from what you explained!”

“Let’s just go get some food. Maybe you’ll feel better about us almost killing you.”

Callum picked himself up and started his way toward the kitchens, but stopped. “Does the king know about this?”

“He’s literally the only reason we didn’t get executed,” Claudia told him.

“This explains why he laughs every time we take walks on the walls,” Callum mumbled.

Soren clapped him on the back and escorted him to their destination. He stifled a giggle as he remembered another story that had been on the backburner for years. 

“Remember the time we lost you in the castle for three days straight?”

“No!?”

“Okay, this is an even better story.”


End file.
